


Not Another Day in LA

by miranda_gilastorm (m_gilastorm)



Series: Ghost Rider: Santa Muerte [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Ghost Rider (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Santa Muerte - Fandom
Genre: Canon Rewrite, F/F, Female Character of Color, Female Ghost Rider OC, Original Character(s), Other, POV Original Character, Santa Muerte, quakerider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-26 01:19:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14989622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m_gilastorm/pseuds/miranda_gilastorm
Summary: Daisy is hunting the Watchdogs when a mysterious figure in a flaming car gets in her way. It's time to find out who this LA urban legend is and why they keep getting to her marks before she can.





	1. Federal Crime Small Talk

**Author's Note:**

> F/F QuakeRider AU with my OC Ghost Rider character. Some readers will be familiar with her from a short story a few of you beta'd for me <3
> 
> Things aren't going to follow the EXACT way it went down with Robbie and Daisy meeting. Cat/Santa Muerte have a very different dynamic than Robbie and the demon in his head. Hope that it's okay!

The Watchdogs' truck sped down the LA street, right into Quake's cross-hairs. They knew she was there, but were running from shadows, terrified of just the idea of her. It was exhilarating. She fired a few shots from the roof where she was perched, missing the first few times, but managing to blow out their tires in a mostly-empty street. It was a shame she wasn't a great sniper.

The men hopped out of the truckbed, jumping at every noise. The smaller one caught a glimpse of her in the window of a shop and fired into the glass indiscriminately. She could hear them shouting to each other to shoot at everything that moved. Daisy smirked. It was cute how terrified they were of her. It wasn't so long ago she was living on these streets in a run-down van.

She launched herself off the roof, landing lightly behind the small blond one. He leveled his gun at her, but her training made her faster. These hate groups might talk a big game, but they lacked in any kind of actual instinct. She took him down quickly, noticing blood on her hands. He was already injured. Maybe it wasn't Quake they were running from.

A scream from across the street grabbed her attention. She saw a civilian and threw herself in front of the woman before the idiots shot at her as if she was a threat. Daisy and the woman huddled behind a parked car as the Watchdogs fired their military-grade weapons at everything on the street like rabid animals, blinded by fear of something.

Daisy caught the sound of an engine revving between the firing of rounds. The men in the truck shouted to each other, directing their fire toward a dark sports car at the far end of the road, back where she had chased them from - maybe it was whoever they had been running from. The sleek sports car sped toward the scene and one of the men in the truck braced a rocket launcher on his shoulder, igniting the car in flames, but not hindering it in any way.

The flames swirled into a design across the car, deepening into a magenta hue as it drifted to a stop in front of the scene. A ring of fire flared up around the truck, forcing Daisy back as she watched dumbfounded. A figure stepped out of the vehicle, unphased by the flurry of bullets that flew in the general direction, and moving with a trained grace that came with years of being outmatched and outgunned. The purple hue of the flame followed the figure as it fought with some kind of blade, cutting its way through all but one of the Watchdogs.

The last one was injured and dragged across the road, shoved in the small trunk space of the sports car, before all the flames went out at once and Daisy could just barely make out a plate as what looked like a Spyder sped away and the sirens could be heard making their way to the carnage.

"Díos mío," the woman who had been hiding behind the cars stood staring in shock at the vacant street. "We have been saved by Santa Muerte herself." The woman crossed herself and ran into the street flagging down the cops as they arrived. Daisy rolled her eyes and was gone, hopefully before any of them saw her.

 * * *

Catalina sat lounging, computer in her lap, news website open to an article that accused the vigilante Quake of last night's mess. And it  _was_ a mess. The ever-present voice in the back of her mind was reminding her that wasn't how they normally did things. That shouldn't have happened in the middle of a street, even if it was mostly empty. That Quake girl was trouble. If she was going to keep showing up  _every_ time the Watchdogs were involved, Santa Muerte and her were going to have words. The spirit in her head hissed in agreement.

A solid knock at the door drew her attention from the article she was only half-reading. Cat put on her sweetest face, in case it was a client, setting the laptop off to the side on the lush couch. All her girls were occupied or out for the day, but she could sweet-talk anyone into waiting a while or else coming back later. It was a talent, one of many she'd picked up in her time working for the cartel when she was younger. The spirit in her was stirring fitfully as she approached the door. It wasn't a client, Santa Muerte never reacted this way to customers.

She swung the door inward and was met with a gorgeous pair of brown eyes looking up at her. Unfortunately, she recognized the face from the incident the night before. "Quake." Everything in Catalina tensed for a fight. She couldn't take on an inhuman without transforming and she promised herself she wouldn't bring that work here. But she could hold her own, even without the spirit's help.

The smaller woman held up her hands defensively. "I'm not here to cause any trouble. I just heard about this place. I know you shelter illegals here and I was hoping maybe you might do the same for a fugitive." She flashed a charming smile and Catalina might have been swayed if she hadn't watched her in action just the evening before.

Cat's violet eyes narrowed. No way. That was too much of a coincidence for her to have found the Watchdogs she'd been hunting and then to show up at her front door.

Santa Muerte agreed. _Be smart, cariña, our boy is here. We can't pick a fight now_.

Cat leaned across the doorway, casual but clearly blocking the way in. "I don't believe a human being can be 'illegal' but a fugitive from the law is something entirely different. We don't take in people who are hiding from repercussions of their own actions. So unless you're here to pay for services, which you'd have to wait for anyway because all my girls are busy, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Catalina was still blocking the door, not allowing Quake to even see inside the building, but she could hear the sound of someone in the kitchen. Of all the times for one of the girls to wander out...

The shorter woman leaned against the railing across from the door, matching Cat's stance. She didn't look at home in the chains and leather she was wearing, but she smirked and raised a brow at Catalina. "Fine, what do you charge for the night?"

"We're not a hotel, chica. And I doubt even  _with_ the banks you've been robbing you could afford an entire night with one of my girls. They get to set their own rates. I don't really care what they charge as long as overhead's covered."

She could see the inhuman debating her response when a small voice called from the kitchen. "Mamá, ¿quíen es?"

Quake's brown eyes flickered with something like concern as she pushed her way past Catalina into the front room. Santa Muerte growled in the back of her mind, screaming to protect Dante. Cat had to remind herself and the spirit both that she had no reason to think the vigilante would hurt her son.

"I'm Daisy." The inhuman held out a bandaged arm to the boy, taking sure strides across the room to the kitchen. "What's your name?"

Dante, always smarter than he should be, froze, shaking her hand gently. His own violet eyes flicked over the bandaged arms and to her face and dyed black hair. "You're Quake. You're fighting the Watchdogs. Justice for the inhumans!" The small boy raised a fist in solidarity.

To her credit, Daisy lowered her head with a small smile, not meeting Dante's awed gaze. "Yeah, something like that."

Dante flashed a grin at Cat over Daisy's shoulder. "She's like us, mamá!" Quake turned, brows raised and faced Catalina, who had closed the door and was standing with her arms crossed, not sure if she should be ready for a fight or what.

"How do you figure, mijo?"

"She's fighting for her people's rights to be seen as people just like we are. The only difference is they have powers. We just come across an imaginary line with a fence." Daisy snickered and looked like she was fighting off a smile.

Cat cursed under her breath but she could feel the spirit almost chuckling in the back of her mind.  _Traitor._

 _What? Our boy is right. We fight for those who have no one else, those who have been cast out. Or have you forgotten what brought you to my altar all those years ago?_ The smooth voice filled her chest like smoke, warming her, calming the rage, and dulling the suspicion.

Catalina rubbed her temples. "Ay díos mío. Fine! I'm not having this fight with a seven-year-old social justice warrior." Dante grinned and sat up straight in his stool.

Daisy turned to face her, meeting her harsh stare. "So what does that mean for me?"

"It means we'll help you. But if you bring trouble or danger, you're gone. ¿Comprende?"

Brown eyes were serious as she answered in kind. "Comprende."

Catalina turned on her heels and walked around and under the staircase, expecting Quake to follow. The spirit in her mind was aware, watching for any evidence of attack or change in temperament from the inhuman. Almost everyone they encountered had been human. Gangs weren't really recruiting anyone with alien genes and Santa Muerte and Catalina didn't really care about anyone else's fight at the moment.

"So who did your papers? They're flawless. I don't know that I could have even done that great of a job and I'm kind of the best I know." She discussed federal crimes like they were common small talk.

"Well you're not in the LA scene. I have friends who can build and hack anything." Cat turned on her, expecting to see a challenging smirk, surprised at the hollow interest Daisy feigned with her brows raised. The spirit in her reached out and found a pain that Catalina wasn't willing to press. It explained the dark clothes and hair. She was trying to reflect what she felt, if she wasn't so dangerous, Cat's heart would have broken for her and those endearing brown eyes.

"Yeah I used to have friends like that. Not sure even they would have been able to rival your citizenship papers though. Or that stolen car? That title is a thing of beauty!" Quake's demeanor changed. She was happy again, bubbly even, as she stepped past Cat, hand brushing Catalina's thigh, toward the single window at the end of the hidden hall. Cat's neck flushed but she knew what Daisy was doing. The Spyder was parked at the side of the building. It wasn't visible from the street. She'd had to have traced it here.

 _We have to get her outside. Dante can't get caught in the crossfire of this._  The voice in her head was right. An inhuman and the spirit of a deity coming to blows would be too dangerous for their adventure-seeking son.

"I actually won it racing for pinks. The title was the least of my worries. She was the first thing that was  _mine_ when I came to the states." Cat chewed her lip for a moment. Santa Muerte had burned away any evidence of the interrogation from the night before. And having Daisy near her car made her slightly anxious, but it was clearly how she found them and it was the easiest lure. "I got her off some high-and-mighty Hills type who thought he owned me after helping me and one of the girls out of a bind. After Dante, she's my most treasured possession."

Quake turned from the window, leaning against it and pouting. "So not the kind of thing you let a wanted fugitive take for a spin, then?"

Catalina leaned forward, intent on throwing Daisy off, her face only inches away from the inhuman's. "Definitely not." She could feel Santa Muerte rushing through her mind and she knew her eyes must be flickering between her own violet and the spirit's bright magenta. So much for being smart.


	2. Urban Legends and Shadow Cars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy has never seen a fake identity this good, not since she became Skye. Whoever this Catalina is, she's clever and dangerous - and possibly an inhuman. Plus she's clearly hunting the Watchdogs too, so either she's an ally or an obstacle. Either way, it calls for looking into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly the same events as the previous chapter, just told from Daisy's perspective because why not?

The plate on the Spyder was easy enough to trace to a police report of a stolen vehicle... from almost a decade ago. No way that car was going around, hunting Watchdogs, keeping the original stolen plates on it, and no one had figured it out yet. Some kind of urban legend of a  _shadow car_ with the Mexican deity Santa Muerte kept coming up in her searches, so she dug in the dark web for it. Santa Muerte was hunting gangs related to a specific cartel, from the looks of things, but of course none of the idiot internet trolls had put that together yet. They were too busy fawning over a pyro vigilante in leather with a vintage sports car. Every reddit-boy's wet dream.

And she could fight. Daisy could still see it. She fought like May - with the mentality of 'if I need a weapon, I'll take it.' As if she was always outnumbered and it never bothered her. She'd had those Watchdogs running with their tails between their legs - right into Daisy's trap. Maybe they were on the same side, except Quake tried really hard to leave the Watchdogs for the police to find, wrapped up in a nice little bow, complete with their illegal weapons and body count.

_Shit._ This time there had been a body count. She clicked on a couple news sites. _Of course_ they were blaming her for the mess. 'Quake dropping bodies.' SHIELD would be here in no time just for the mention of her name.

"Great." She leaned back in her van, closing her eyes and picturing the scene again. The purple-ish flames had all gone out and the magenta designs were fading away off the car. If she focused hard enough on the image of the plate right at that moment, right as the flames vanished and the designs disappeared, it was like the stolen plate shimmered like a mirage. "Come on, Daisy. Remember. What did it say _before_ the flames went out?"

She was back, standing in the street, staring in wonder at the figure in black, with maroon flames dancing around her. She moved with such grace. But if she could just look past her to the plate...

Daisy sat straight up, scattering bits of electronics, bandages, and pill bottles everywhere. She'd seen it! She pulled her laptop back into her lap, muttering to herself. "Thank you, mandatory SHIELD course in cognitive interviewing." Her fingers flew across the keys and she realized it had been a while since she'd just done good, old-fashioned hacking. It felt good. A driver's license and title and business license all came up with the new plate. A beautiful woman, not a whole lot older than herself, with dark skin and hair, stared at Daisy from the screen, with eyes a violet color that couldn't be natural. Something about the footprint of the files was a bit _too_ clean cut. Catalina Tafoya was a little too put-together, digitally speaking.

There it was. The business license was a cover for a brothel. She was a madame, and the car was  _most definitely_ that stolen Spyder. There was something else though, something that was nagging at Daisy. She pulled up the birth certificate. "Fake? Why would you... Oh."

She searched the brothel on the dark web. It was a known place for illegal immigrants to hide out and get their papers in order, sometimes at no cost. Daisy was willing to bet those were the ones who had any information on whatever cartel Catalina was after. Either way, it was worth a trip to East LA to talk to her in person. At worst, she'd confront her and get her out of the way, at best she could find out why her eyes were that mesmerizing color, maybe find another inhuman to team up with.

She knocked at the door despite the throbbing pain in her arms. Any chance of sweet-talking her way through this was out the window with Catalina's first word.

"Quake."

Daisy had to raise her hands, showing she meant no harm. "I'm not here to cause any trouble. I just heard about this place. I know you shelter illegals here and I was hoping maybe you might do the same for a fugitive." She smiled as sweetly as she could, but it didn't seem to have any effect. This Catalina should have a staring contest with May.

The other woman blocked the doorway, leaning almost suggestively - definitely distractedly - preventing Daisy from even seeing into the upscale building. "I don't believe a human being can be 'illegal'," and Daisy silently kicked herself for her poor choice of words, "but a fugitive from the law is something entirely different. We don't take in people who are hiding from repercussions of their own actions. So unless you're here to pay for services, which you'd have to wait for anyway because all my girls are busy, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Her accent was thick, but her intent was clear in every word. She did  _not_ want Daisy there. Maybe paying was the best way in. She leaned against the railing, meeting the challenge Catalina had put to her and matching her flirty stance. "Fine, what do you charge for the night?" She raised a brow suggestively.

"We're not a hotel, chica. And I doubt even  _with_ the banks you've been robbing you could afford an entire night with one of my girls. They get to set their own rates. I don't really care what they charge as long as overhead's covered." Daisy got the feeling that she was deliberately ignoring her flirting. She wondered if she should push her luck but a small voice shocked her out of her own internal debate. All she could see in her mind was Robin, holding the little bird her father had carved for her, and she risked pushing past Catalina into the building, surprised to see a small boy who looked just like the beautiful woman she'd probably nearly been to blows with, even down to the gorgeous violet eyes.

She smiled at him, walking to kneel in front of his stool and extending her bandaged arm. "I'm Daisy. What's your name?"

The boy didn't answer, just shook her hand gently as he surveyed her injuries and face. "You're Quake. You're fighting the Watchdogs." His eyes glimmered with excitement. "Justice for the inhumans!" The small boy raised a fist and Daisy felt herself tear up at his passion.

She lowered her gaze so neither he or his mother would see, smiling slightly. "Yeah. Something like that."

"She's like us, mamá!" Daisy's attention snapped up. So they  _were_ inhumans after all. She turned to face Catalina, who looked like a momma tiger, ready to kill for her cub. But Catalina ignored her.

"How do you figure, mijo?" She stared straight past Daisy to the boy sitting on his stool in the kitchen.

"She's fighting for her people's rights to be seen as people, just like we are. The only difference is they have powers. We just come across an imaginary line with a fence."

Daisy coughed to keep herself from laughing at the look on Catalina's face - like she'd smelled something bad and was being forced to clean it up. Daisy bit her lips together to keep from smiling. Somehow, she'd walked into what appeared to be an ongoing family dispute and it was adorable.

The boy's mother cursed under her breath, muttering something in Spanish. "Fine! I'm not having this fight with a seven-year-old social justice warrior."

The hacktivist in Daisy silently applauded the boy as she stood and held Catalina's icy stare. "So what does that mean for me?"

"It means we'll help you." The woman took a step toward her, and Daisy wasn't sure if she should ready herself for a fight or if this was more intimidation. Catalina was proving hard to get a read on. "But if you bring trouble or danger, you're gone. ¿Comprende?"

Daisy set her shoulders and remembered what it was like to protect the people around her, thinking of the little boy sitting at the counter. "Comprende."

She followed Catalina under the stairs to a hallway that she never would have known was there. The vibrations of the enclosed space with this woman, who she suspected was the same fighter from last night, hummed with an energy she didn't recognize. She needed to find out what was happening here.

"So who did your papers? They're flawless. I don't know that I could have even done that great of a job and I'm kind of the best I know." It wasn't a lie. Not even Fitz could have turned out an ident like the one Catalina was living under.

"Well you're not in the LA scene. I have friends who can build and hack anything."  _The LA scene._ This had been her turf not too long ago, and she'd used to have friends. Catalina turned with a small grin on her face that faded quickly. The frequency of the hallway increased and Daisy raised her brows, pretending like it didn't sting.

"Yeah I used to have friends like that. Not sure even they would have been able to rival your citizenship papers though. Or that stolen car? That title is a thing of beauty!" Daisy instantly regretted mentioning the citizenship papers. She could feel the tension rise in Catalina, like the pitch of a haunting melody. She brushed past her with a bright smile, realizing how much shorter she was, her hand only grazing the woman's thigh when she'd been thinking maybe she'd put a hand on her hip or something else, more flirty less - forward? She stood staring out the window, blushing a bit. There was the car, the gorgeous Fiat Spyder that had led her here.

"I actually won it racing for pinks. The title was the least of my worries." Daisy blushed a bit more. Maybe her flirting was working. Catalina was actually  _volunteering_ information. "She was the first thing that was mine when I came to the states," the woman paused and Daisy debated turning to face her, wondering what she was remembering. "I got her off some high-and-mighty Hills type who thought he owned me after helping me and one of the girls out of a bind. After Dante, she's my most treasured possession."

_Dante_. That must have been the boy she met before. Daisy turned from the view of the car, leaning against the window frame, pouting and meeting Catalina's impassive violet gaze. "So, not the kind of thing you let a wanted fugitive take for a spin, then?" She'd planned for it to come off joking, but Catalina's face was dead-serious.

"Definitely not." She stepped toward Daisy and her face was only inches above her own. The strange hum that filled the hall was growing and it radiated straight through to her core. Catalina's violet eyes flickered with the same magenta light that had glowed in the flames the night before.

She sucked in a breath. "So it's true then. Santa Muerte did save us."

Catalina backed away. "What do you know of Santa Muerte, girl?" She hissed the last word as if it were some kind of insult.

Daisy pushed herself off the window, stepping up to Catalina, staring straight up at her. "I know that if this is going to come to blows, we're going to want to take it outside. I have a feeling your son doesn't know what you are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is shorter. More on its way! I was going somewhere with it and changed my mind and yeah.. But the next bit might be more angsty? I'm trying. Romance SO is not my thing. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!


	3. Literal and Metaphorical

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catalina and Daisy decide a fight isn't worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know. But I just.. I'm sorry guys.

Cat's fists clenched, ready to summon her chain and throw the inhuman through the window, promises be damned.

 _She's protecting our boy. She deserves the truth._ Catalina resisted the urge to scoff aloud, but she felt Santa Muerte pull her flame from her and had to relax, still facing down Quake.

"We won't fight you." Catalina backed away, feeling the glow in her stare fade.

Daisy's brown eyes narrowed, but she was still standing just as close, clearly confused but not looking as ready to bring the building down. "We?"

"Santa Muerte and I. It's not a name I go by, like you. She's here," Cat waved generally toward her head, "with me. We're bound. It's complicated."

"Yeah. I'm getting that." Daisy leaned back against the window frame. "So you're not inhuman?"

Catalina shook her head. "Just bound my soul to the spirit of a deity of death. Sorry."

_For what it's worth, it was beneficial for both of us._

Daisy's eyes went wide at the sound of Santa Muerte's voice in her own mind.

Cat laughed lightly. "You get used to it. Although, she doesn't generally reveal herself other than in judgement, you should feel honored."

"Not sure honored is the word" Daisy muttered as she gently massaged her forearm. "But I guess I'm glad you didn't try to barbecue me. So there's that."

_She needs mending._

Catalina stepped toward Daisy cautiously, hand outstretched. "May I?" Daisy nodded and Cat unwrapped the flimsy gauze bandaging to reveal a latticework of bruises. She nodded to a door across from them. "That room's for you."

"If I had know that was all it took, I would have put less effort into my flirting." Daisy smirked at her.

Cat rolled her eyes. "That was flirting? Cariña, you do know what kind of business I run, right?"

_Don't let her fool you. She likes your eyes._

They all ignored that comment while Daisy paused for a moment, seeming to gather herself. Catalina moved across the hall and opened the door to a spare room, one of the ones they kept ready for anyone who might need to leave at a moment's notice. She stepped in and switched on the light, illuminating the green and tan tones that this one was decorated in. It reminded her of home.

"As you can see, we keep these spare rooms well furnished." She motioned toward the queen bed with its emerald bedspread and tan pillows. "There's a full bath through there, most of the books are in Spanish if you're able to read it, but you might find a few English ones left behind by past guests." She gestured for Daisy to sit on the bed.

"So I take it this isn't the kind of room for paying customers."

Not answering, Cat turned to the attached bathroom, foraging for her kit. Once she found it, she motioned again for Daisy to sit on the bed. The inhuman did so, if with some hesitation, as Cat sat directly in front of her, near enough for their knees to touch. "No. This is our own little underground railroad, if you will." She felt the fire spread into her hands as she lifted the arm she had already unwrapped. Santa Muerte may be the saint of death, but she was also the patron saint of those cast out. She would heal an injured inhuman fighting for justice, just as she had avenged a pregnant cartel enforcer whose family had been slaughtered by her bosses.

"Ah, so this was what I was feeling. I could sense the spirit in you. The hallway felt like it was buzzing, like there was too much energy in a tight space. Without my gauntlets, sometimes I can feel too much, I thought maybe it was one of those times."

"No, you're just in close quarters with a deity and former cartel enforcer. I'm afraid we might be a bit much for you after a night like you had last night." Cat motioned to Daisy's arms.

"Nah, it's not the injuries. It's just the vibrations. I don't just _cause_ quakes, you know. I guess Santa Muerte has her own frequency." Daisy forced the lush pillows into a more comfortable position for her to sit so that Catalina could tend to her arms better. Maroon flames wrapped around her unbandaged arm, casting a purple glow over the both of them. A small click could be heard as some of the bones shifted back into place, causing her to hiss in pain.

 _You did that on purpose._ Santa Muerte forced the flames to fade, countering Cat's attempt. Daisy eyed Catalina curiously, which only caused her to flush, feeling like some kind of teenager with no control of her abilities or emotions.

"Se necesita mending. I'm mending," she muttered to the spirit. The bones were splintering from the inside - stress fractures. She'd seen it in torture victims who had too much weight piled on. Her eyes flicked to the vigilante who was watching her with those wide brown eyes. "I can heal these as I just did, if you want, but it's going to be painful. Wrapping it again won't help, but I have a feeling you knew that."

Daisy shrugged. "It's more so I don't  _physically_ hurt myself than anything else. It's my powers that do," she turned her forearm over in Cat's hand, where the bruises ran down like a grotesque map, "this."

"So why continue using them? I have seen the cartel do this to people to get information out of them. And you do this to yourself, and for what? An advantage on your enemy? I could have destroyed these Watchdogs on my own long before I bonded with Santa Muerte." Catalina glared at the bruising on the woman's arms, now both unwrapped and laid out on her lap. The memory of torturing that journalist until his bones cracked came flooding back. Who in their right mind would do such a thing to  _themselves?_

 _She thinks she deserves the pain. Too many have cast her aside, told her lies about who and what she is_. The magenta flames roared to life out of Cat's hands, surrounding Daisy's arms. Images flashed through both of their minds as Cat could feel the spirit take over, her own skin burning away to reveal the goddess of death, staring down at Daisy through a vacant skull with ancient tribal designs glowing the same color of her fire.

 * * *

The bones in Daisy's arm continued snapping into place as the air around them shimmered with a purple hue. She had to bite her lip not to whimper in pain. Santa Muerte peered through her, drudging up images of her team, of Lincoln, of Hive, Lash, the base crumbling beneath her. Daisy cried out, but she was caught in the power that was healing her arms. She could hear the static on the comms after the explosion, remember the grief knowing he was gone.

 _I apologize for what you may feel, physically or otherwise, but you have much to heal._ The voice of the spirit echoed aloud in the room now that she was the one doing the healing.

Then it changed. The flames were warm and the flashbacks had been fighting that warmth, filled with an ice that she never realized burned worse than the heat of the fire. The heat filled her chest and warmed her. Mack called her Tremors, May trained her, Coulson handed her the SHIELD badge, and Fitzsimmons worked on the gauntlets to protect her. Bruises receded on her arms as her self-loathing and sense of belonging warred in the flames that drew archaic designs and symbols on her skin in magenta. It almost reminded her of the Kree symbols Coulson had drawn to lead her to the Terrigen crystals, only it felt far more ancient - like something as old as the universe. She recalled the mystical writing that had appeared on the Spyder when the flames around it ignited.

Daisy fought to urge to stare at the skull that had been a flawless face before, maybe ask a question. It reminded her of those Day of the Dead sugar skulls, with what looked like tattooed designs on the pale bone and the magenta flames flowing out behind it and down her shoulders like Catalina's would have if it had been loose.  _Deity_ may not have been too far off. Whatever Santa Muerte was, she wasn't inhuman. This wasn't some half-baked terrigenesis like Lash. Catalina and Santa Muerte were symbiotic partners of some kind. _A deity and former cartel enforcer_ , she'd said. Now that had to be one hell of a story _._

A final snap and the amethyst lettering disappeared from Daisy's arms, along with the flames and bruising alike. The glow receded, almost like every bit of power was being sucked into Catalina's violet eyes, until they didn't glow with any energy and were their regular, mesmerizing but  _human_ shade of strange purple.

Daisy lifted her arms out of the other woman's grasp. "Well that was an  _experience_."

Catalina flushed and watched her with concern. "I know much of what you saw and felt must have been painful on several levels. We really do apologize -"

The inhuman cut her short with a wave of her healed arm. "Listen, I don't remember the last time my arms didn't ache. It had to be before my terrigenesis, so thank you, really. I don't want to seem ungrateful or anything. It was just," she glanced up, only to realize she was still sitting basically knee-to-knee with Catalina on the bed, who was regarding her with reserved concern, "intense." She swallowed, holding the impassive stare of the Madam.

A small smirk broke the hard mask Catalina was wearing, diffusing whatever tension was growing in the charged silence. "You are too easy to make nervous, you know that? You'd think the infamous Quake could handle more than one, _non-hostile_ , encounter with another enhanced individual." Everything in her tone was playfully challenging and flirty. Daisy couldn't resist.

She scoffed, trying to hide the wide smile that was breaking across her face. "Yeah, okay. I  _clearly_ walked into this building with the upper hand. You were not expecting to deal with me and were still trying to figure out what to do with me when I already knew my plan of action. I just didn't realize I would be up against a literal and metaphorical goddess, okay?"  _Shit_. She clamped her mouth shut, scrunching her nose. "I said that out loud."

"Yeah you sure did." Catalina was nodding slowly, brow raised and her lips twitching like she were about to burst into laughter. She leaned forward into dangerously close space. "But can I ask which of us is the metaphorical goddess in this scenario of yours? Because now I'm kind of curious." Her violet eyes glinted with mischief and delight.

Daisy blushed feverishly, groaning loudly and letting herself fall over to bury her face in the emerald comforter. She could hear Catalina's laughter finally break out past the steel mask she had been wearing. It was a gorgeous sound and made her flush an even deeper hue of red. She grabbed the pillow she'd been propped up on and threw it at the woman, who caught it easily. Because of course she would, she was perfect.  _A metaphorical goddess._ Bound to a literal goddess.

When Catalina's laughter had died down a bit, Daisy chanced a peek at her from her emerald shield. She was still snickering, but watching Daisy patiently from back on her elbows, with the pillow laid across her lap.

"I don't understand what's so embarrassing. In fact, I'm fairly certain we both know each other's most guarded secrets. I believe the coined phrase was something like 'mutually assured destruction'?" Her accent rang out in the words, probably foreign to someone in a symbiotic relationship with a deity.

"You realize they were talking about one person launches nukes, then someone else does, then the whole world goes 'boom,' right? Not exactly the same as someone knowing you're a super-powered vigilante that hunts gangs or hate groups in your spare time." Daisy rolled onto her side, laying her head on her unblemished arm. "Nope. Come to think of it, that's accurate. You're right."

Catalina tossed the pillow out on the bed so she could lay on it, matching Daisy's posture and laying on her side so they were facing each other from a distance. "We're not weapons. You're not a weapon. I thought you would have understood that from what she showed you. You have people who care about you and are searching for you." She paused for a moment, watching for something in Daisy's face before she rested a gentle hand on the inhuman's shoulder, bridging the gap between them. "I suppose you can only be as healed as you allow."

"Yeah I'm kind of a mess." It was weirdly intimate, here, in this hidden room with a beautiful Chicana laying in front of her on a comfortable bed. It was so surreal. Like something a normal person would have.

Except a normal person wouldn't have stalked this beautiful woman by her car, knowing she was a powered vigilante, almost got into a fight with her, then let her goddess-of-death-alter-ego in her head and patch her up before laying on a bed across from her - just staring at her in disbelief that she even existed. 

Cat raised her brows, a slight smirk at the corner of her lips. "Are you looking for something?" She pulled her hand back from Daisy's shoulder, letting it lay on the bed between them, likely as a deliberate temptation.

Daisy toyed with the comforter with her free hand, averting her eyes, finally. "No, I just -"

"She wasn't lying before, you know." 

"Who?"

"Santa Muerte. When she said not to let me fool you."

Daisy let herself walk back through those first few moments when they were deciding whether or not to come to blows.  _Don't let her fool you. She likes your eyes._ "She said you like my eyes."

Catalina hummed in affirmation. "One of the many benefits to being host to a celestial being - I can't hide anything should she decide to reveal it. Though she's generally discreet enough -"

Daisy cut her off by grabbing the hand she'd left laying between them to pull her closer. Catalina ran her thumb along Daisy's jaw, tilting her face so violet eyes met brown. She kissed her, gently, deeply, fingers lacing their way into Daisy's short hair.

Daisy pulled at Cat's waist, keeping her as near as she could. She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but the sound of footsteps up and down the stairs above them startled them both apart. 

Catalina laid back, staring at the ceiling with a faintly annoyed expression. She turned her gaze back to Daisy who was still reeling. "I suppose I should go and tend to my business. And I guess we have a lot to talk about later."

She stood and was out the door without waiting for a response.

Daisy stared at the door. "You think?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going for tension... I don't think I quite hit the mark... I don't even know. But I hope you liked it! I'm officially done with this prompt!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so when I started getting close to 6k words, I realized I was going to have to split it up. Plus a certain someone was asking if there was something she could read that was ready sooooooooooo I decided to post a taste.
> 
> Yes, there's lots to Catalina, I have a whole like 40k word fic written about her and her son and the girls that live in her business and her history in Mexico... and maybe someday I'll be brave enough to post it. But that day is not today. Today I hope you like the tension between Daisy and this iteration of the Rider.
> 
> Also, my pseudo has changed everywhere: Tumbrl: miranda-gilastorm, IG & Twitter: @m_gilastorm, WP: mirandagilastorm.wordpress, FB as Miranda Gilastorm


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